Vic Firth Signature Sticks - Weird break

longgun

Gold Member
Hey guys,

Was playing a medium sized gig last week for a wedding. We were playing the song "The weight", so no "heavy" drumming, very light in fact. I'm using the Ahmir ?uestlove signature sticks..........love the way they feel, especially for the lighter stuff.

In the middle of the first chorus, my stick broke in half. I've never had this happen.........I've broke many before, but usually the tip or towards the end.

I'm assuming it was just a bad stick..............has anyone else had this happen?

I was going to email Vic Firth and see if this has been an issue. Has anyone ever contacted them? I was going to email the contact on their website, but figured I'd ask here first.

Here's a couple of pics.

ry%3D400


ry%3D400


ry%3D400
 
I've been playing some VF sigs recently...tried the Gadds, and love the Weckls, and have had no issues with them at all. I would say it was a defective stick, try to contact 'em, and see how they handle it. I mean, you paid for it. If you decide to go that route, let us know what you thought of their service...
 
No issues here.

I primarily use the Peter Erskine Big Band stick and the only issue I've had so far is that one of the tips chipped after about a month's use. Nothing out of the ordinary.
 
I have had several sticks from different manufacturers break like that before, the most recent being a VF Aaron Spears yesterday. It happens when the grain in the rimshot region of the stick is not parallel to the shaft, but is diagonal; if you have the stick turned against the grain, it can just snap in twain like that.

Check your sticks for vertical grain if the opportunity presents and it will prevent this from happening (usually).
 
I've been playing some VF sigs recently...tried the Gadds, and love the Weckls, and have had no issues with them at all. I would say it was a defective stick, try to contact 'em, and see how they handle it. I mean, you paid for it. If you decide to go that route, let us know what you thought of their service...

These are two of my favorite sticks, along with the Evolutions. I never broke one, but the shoulders do take a beating, lol.

I would also say that the OP just got a bad stick.

Dennis
 
All sticks, all companies will have the inevitable flaw. Not to worry.
 
Gruntersdad is such an endless node of wisdom just waiting to be mined.

And correct wisdom at that!

very odd break though, surely just an oopsie
 
I've been playing some VF sigs recently...tried the Gadds, and love the Weckls, and have had no issues with them at all. I would say it was a defective stick, try to contact 'em, and see how they handle it. I mean, you paid for it. If you decide to go that route, let us know what you thought of their service...

I will, going to send them an email this afternoon

No issues here.

I primarily use the Peter Erskine Big Band stick and the only issue I've had so far is that one of the tips chipped after about a month's use. Nothing out of the ordinary.

Thanks for the reply Brady, never had this happen before either................guess I've been lucky over the years

I have had several sticks from different manufacturers break like that before, the most recent being a VF Aaron Spears yesterday. It happens when the grain in the rimshot region of the stick is not parallel to the shaft, but is diagonal; if you have the stick turned against the grain, it can just snap in twain like that.

Check your sticks for vertical grain if the opportunity presents and it will prevent this from happening (usually).


Thanks for the reply alpharott, funny thing was, I was playing pretty lightly on the hats when it happened. We played "China Grove" right before it and may have broke it then and it fell apart in the next song.


These are two of my favorite sticks, along with the Evolutions. I never broke one, but the shoulders do take a beating, lol.

I would also say that the OP just got a bad stick.

Dennis

Thanks Dennis..............I've played these sticks for around a year and it's the first "break" I've had.............the others just wore down.

All sticks, all companies will have the inevitable flaw. Not to worry.

Thanks Gruntersdad.......I have four new pair in my stick bag..........hopefully they don't have the same issue, since I bought them at the same time.

Gruntersdad is such an endless node of wisdom just waiting to be mined.

And correct wisdom at that!

very odd break though, surely just an oopsie

Thanks sparkboss...............yep, hoping it was just an anomaly
 
Hate to be the bearer of bad tidings, but sometimes things (especially things like sticks) just break.

Gotta be honest here, I've never heard of anyone contacting the company over one solitary broken stick........I just don't think it warrants it. If every stick in the batch broke after a short amount of time, sure. But one stick? Talk about mountains out of molehills.

Rather than write letters to the editor or protest in the streets, you just grab another one and move on, don't you?
 
Rarely do you see baseball bats break but at times they just explode. No one can X-ray or predict the inside grain flaws on a drum stick and hopefully this is a strange one.
 
Hate to be the bearer of bad tidings, but sometimes things (especially things like sticks) just break.

Gotta be honest here, I've never heard of anyone contacting the company over one solitary broken stick........I just don't think it warrants it. If every stick in the batch broke after a short amount of time, sure. But one stick? Talk about mountains out of molehills.

Rather than write letters to the editor or protest in the streets, you just grab another one and move on, don't you?

Didn't look at it that way, perhaps I am overreacting................These were relatively new sticks, less than an hour of playing time with them.......and mostly "softer" playing too.

I guess I looked at them as defective and I'll let VF know. I am not looking for free stuff, but they may have had a QA/QC type problem..........I don't know how they could even check for defects like that, but I'm sure they do.

Other than normal "wear and tear" I've been extremely happy with VF sticks and will continue to use them, regardless of what their response is.

Rarely do you see baseball bats break but at times they just explode. No one can X-ray or predict the inside grain flaws on a drum stick and hopefully this is a strange one.

I hope so too.
 
Just a quick follow-up.................

I called the number for Vic Firth on their website and the most amazing thing happened..............

a human answered!

She was one of the most courteous people I have ever spoken to. She was apologetic and asked if I could send her a pic along with a short description of what happened.

Within three days, I had a couple of new pairs of sticks on my doorstep, along with some extras they threw in.

I can honestly say that VF provided the best customer service I have ever experienced and they now have a loyal and dedicated customer for life.
 
Low moisture content, that's how sticks break when the moisture inside the wood is low. Its not uber common, but it happens, the stick just separates in your hand.
 
I have an "open" email to their customer service department on the Evolution model - Dave Weckl sticks, I cc'd Weckl on the email as well (just for fun).

I was breaking them in half as well (same way) - on my last show with my band Lion-hearted a few months ago, I broke 3 sticks in 50 minutes. I play a bit hard, rimshots and etc. but I havent broken a cymbal or head in years, so that tells ya something.

It turns out that the S-Hoop is not friendly with Dave's Evolution stick on the snare when doing rimshots, That was my theory, so I switched out to a Gibraltar 2.3mm triple flange. The snare (50's round badge with die-cast snare side hoop) sounds better than ever to me, and my sticks have lasted for months (rotating 3 pairs for the last 3 months). However, I could swear that my older Evolution sticks lasted a lot longer than the newer ones. I'm beginning to wonder about present day quality controls.

These are my favorite sticks by far, for many reasons, would hate to part with them.
 
I have an "open" email to their customer service department on the Evolution model - Dave Weckl sticks, I cc'd Weckl on the email as well (just for fun).

I was breaking them in half as well (same way) - on my last show with my band Lion-hearted a few months ago, I broke 3 sticks in 50 minutes. I play a bit hard, rimshots and etc. but I havent broken a cymbal or head in years, so that tells ya something.

It turns out that the S-Hoop is not friendly with Dave's Evolution stick on the snare when doing rimshots, That was my theory, so I switched out to a Gibraltar 2.3mm triple flange. The snare (50's round badge with die-cast snare side hoop) sounds better than ever to me, and my sticks have lasted for months (rotating 3 pairs for the last 3 months). However, I could swear that my older Evolution sticks lasted a lot longer than the newer ones. I'm beginning to wonder about present day quality controls.

These are my favorite sticks by far, for many reasons, would hate to part with them.


If you don't receive any answers, let me know and I'll forward you the email of the lady I dealt with.
 
Hickory sticks usually chip away and wear out that way. Maple sticks usually explode in a manner similar to that photo. Are those signature sticks hickory or maple? If they're hickory, they were just a bad pair (but judging by the photo, it's not like they were brand new, so....).
 
Hickory sticks usually chip away and wear out that way. Maple sticks usually explode in a manner similar to that photo. Are those signature sticks hickory or maple? If they're hickory, they were just a bad pair (but judging by the photo, it's not like they were brand new, so....).

Yep, they are hickory.........I may have had an hour of playing time with them.............not too much
 
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